TymeBank warns against “AI-driven scams” ahead of International Fraud Awareness Week 2025

TymeBank today issued a national alert to raise awareness about the growing threat of “AI-driven social engineering” activity, where fraudsters are enhancing their cyber and social engineering attacks with AI generated content to manipulate customers to share sensitive information related to their bank accounts.

The alert forms part of International Fraud Awareness Week, taking place from 16–22 November 2025.

AI-driven social engineering enhances the known social engineering techniques, such as vishing, phishing and smishing, targeting trust and the decision making short cuts that we all take in our everyday lives.  Clients are encouraged to take extra steps to verify that they are engaging with legitimate platforms and content.

“Recent reports have revealed that fake or fraudulent ads account for as much as 10% of revenue on major social media platforms like Facebook, which in some instances is referred to as “Fakebook” due to the number of fake ads, underscoring how widespread and lucrative these scams have become,” said Bonolo Sebolai, Head of Fraud at TymeBank.

The rise of AI tools enables fraudsters to generate creative and convincing tools that mimic legitimacy to the everyday banking client.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Error free and legitimate looking messages.
• Voice cloning.
• Honeypot website generation.
• Fake ad generation.
• Fake payment link creation and messaging that is near identical to what clients have come to expect from trusted institutions.

Another way that AI-driven social engineering is used is for the recruitment of money mules to facilitate the movement of stolen funds.

A money mule is any person who allows their bank account (or a new account opened in their name) to move funds on behalf of someone else – sometimes knowingly for a fee, sometimes after being deceived by a fake job, romance, or investment opportunity.

This is illegal and can carry severe consequences, including criminal prosecution. Bad actors are able to use AI to create content such as fake job sites and ads, that convinces customers to share their account details to receive illegitimate funds.

“Money mules fuel everything from social-engineering scams to organised crime. Even if you ‘just receive money for someone,’ you can face account closure, blacklisting and even criminal charges,” said Sebolai.

How to protect yourself from AI-driven scams:

• Do not click on links that come via text or email.
• Take extra steps to verify the source of information.
• Use alternative contact details to verify the source of information before acting on anything.

“AI tools can be used by anyone who has access to an internet connection and is relatively technology literate. This has bridged the gap, allowing complex tools to be used by those with bad intentions without having to be an expert. As this technology evolves, and continues to get better, so will the bad actors who use it to engineer their desired outcome,” said Sebolai.

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